The Wroughton's free-tailed bat (Otomops wroughtoni) is a free-tailed bat formerly considered to be confined to the Western Ghats area of India, though it has also recently been discovered in Northeast India and in a remote part of Cambodia. It was listed as a critically endangered species due to habitat loss and a restricted range.
In India, the species is found in two locations in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and in Meghalaya in Northeast India. In Karnataka, it is found in the Barapede Caves, located between Krishnapur and Talewadi, in Belgaum district, adjacent to the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary near the state of Goa. In Meghalaya, it was recently discovered in a cave near Nongrai village, Shella confederacy. Their habitat is threatened by limestone miners, timber contractors and the cave could be submerged if a nearby Mahadeyi river were dammed for a hydroelectric plant as proposed by the Karnataka Government.
There is a foraging record of a single specimen from Meghalaya (North-Eeastern India) collected in 2001. Since then there is no record of sighting and/or collection of this species from that locality in Meghalaya in North-Eeastern India. Therefore the distributional record of this species from Meghalaya needs confirmation and authentication. On the other hand, the sighting of the colony/collection records of this species were reported at different times by Topal and Ramkrishna (1980), Bates (1992), Mistry and Parab (2001), Ramakrina and Pradhan (2003). Pending further confirmation and authentication of the distribution of this species from Meghalaya in North-Eeastern India, the distribution of Otomops wroughtoni in India should be restricted to a single locality record from Karnataka state.